Mixing It Up With The Media

It appears that I have hurt Darrell King’s feelings. He took a few swipes at this blog last night on Radio Clyde’s Superscoreboard programme. We should not be too surprised for I have been less than complimentary about him. All is fair in love and war after all. (For the record, I do think that he is the best of a very bad bunch). Having played a part in exposing the incompetence of the Scottish sports media pack, a counter-reaction against us is only natural. In particular, Darrell will be irked that I keep referring to his claim, made on live radio, that Rangers players held side-letters demonstrating that the “loans” from the EBT never need to be repaid. This will, if true ;-), prove to be the smoking gun in this case. (Well there “might be” a few more interesting pieces of information that Darrell has not told you about). Why would someone with such easy access to the facts get the interpretation so wildly wrong every time? It could not be just a cynical ploy, could it? To be seen publicly defending Rangers’ position, but privately understanding what has really happened? Perish the thought!

It would suit the likes of Darrell for this blog to become distracted from our mission to roll around in the mud. So, I will reply today and move on. However, we can expect more of these slaps as the facts of the case are revealed. We shall let the blog speak for itself in future.

For a journalist, Darrell seems to have a very short memory and must not be taking notes. Last night, he described as “complete and utter nonsense” the accusation that he sat on the tax story in April 2010 in order to avoid interfering with Rangers’ title run-in.

Perhaps Darrell will recall the following quote: “Untangling Rangers’ finances and breaking them down into layman’s terms for those who matter most – the club’s supporters – is not a straightforward task and much of the information this paper has obtained in the last two days was, understandably, retained until such times as the league championship was won as it was felt it would not serve any good to further muddy the waters when the team was on the cusp of the title”. 27 April 2010, Evening Times- two days after Rangers secured the Scottish Premier League championship.

Darrell might want to tell us who wrote this “complete and utter nonsense“? Of course, like several articles that Darrell would not want us recalling, the story is no longer available outside the Evening Times’ pay wall. Thankfully, google remembers lots of things. This text appeared under the heading: “Poison pill that killed the party – Evening Times | Sport | Editor’s Picks”. Who was the sports editor at this paper at the time? In another article ON THE SAME DAY, 27 April 2010, Darrell tells us “For the past few months, sources have spoken privately to this paper about the fears of what was coming“. Two days? A few months? I have no way of knowing which version is the truth.

When a sports journalist is willing to sit on the greatest story in the history of Scottish football for fear of upsetting a team’s momentum to the title, we know exactly where we stand and what to expect. To his credit, Darrell does not hide behind a fake love of St. Mirren or Airdrie, His colours are well and truly pinned to the mast. We can expect him to go down with this ship- defiantly inaccurate in almost his every utterance about the tax case since reviving his interest in the subject a few months ago. (His stories in April 2010 were actually very good. It was a rare example of decent journalism. The reaction to that work among his base must have stung him).

Rather than running down rabbit holes with those who have been demonstrated to be clueless in the unfolding of Rangers’ tax case, it should be easy to compare the work of this blog- my own and the fantastic work performed by readers- with that of the Scottish media. There is little similarity between our research & analysis and the lamb-fueled output of any one of the ‘professional’ organisations.

If anyone is in any doubt as to what drives business for Darrell’s papers, I noticed last night that there is a dynamic graphic at the foot of The Herald’s website. It displays intensity of interest in topics by the size of the text. While hardly a scientific or fool-proof tool, I suspect that it represents the relative interest in Rangers quite well.

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About rangerstaxcaseI have information on Rangers' tax case, and I will use this blog to provide the details of what Rangers FC have done, why it was illegal, and what the implications for what was (updated) one of the largest football clubs in Britain.

1,073 Responses to Mixing It Up With The Media

corsica says:
29/01/2012 at 11:56 pm
It would seem that I am being blamed by some for starting a
stramash last night that has spilled over into today.
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That was me Corsica, although I wasn’t blaming you for the whole thing. I just felt you jumped on the reference to Celtic when I think the guy initially asked a reasonable question in a reasonable way. The guy then made some snide comment in retaliation and it all went down hill from there.

I wasn’t having a pop at you. I was just try to point out that maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to jump down peoples throats.

Another thought about the MSM…i knew a guy when i was growing up who despite our best efforts wanted to be a rangers fan. Fair play. I lived in the same street as him. Educated by the same teachers even. He was a much better footballer (striker) than me. He also wanted more than anything to become a Sports Jouranlist. We lost contact after high school but i was aware that he wrote some lower division stuff for one of the red tops but when i stopped reading them i lost any real link to him.

The reason any of this is important is PaulieM article about the MSM and their unwillingness to go out on a limb and be much happier finding strength in numbers.

When one of the biggest events in scottish football history was happening (rangers fans rioting in manchester) did said red top employ its big guns to comment on the story? Nope. Front page and more were given over to an almost unheard of name in scottish journalism.

Did the scoop do his career much good? Not hat i know of. I hope he is still earning a living doing what he set out to do but he aint being invited on clyde or RR. Nor was he at the time, despite the fact he was there and could have offered a first hand view. All of the people speaking after the event had the cover of…”well i cant comment as i was at the game”.

Here we have a Journalist (probably freelance) but with a tie to a major red top, that was deemed worthy of using for the front page and various other comment. In Journalism that is usually called a scoop. Being in the right place at the right time should in theory help that career massively.

Except in the closed book of Scottish Journalism. The better idea is self preservation. Do not acknowledge the work of the guy on the ground, but admit it was a terriblething to happen.

Can you imagine if Jabba had been amongst the rioting hordes? Reports from warzones the world over would have paled in comparison. He would have won awards. Probably have accepted them in army fatigues. The book would have been out by the start of the next season.

Instead we have a guy that has got the scoop that should break his career open but finds that no-one wants to talk anymore.

Im sure that if they were so inclined the researchers on here will have my friends name up fairly easily. I hope the gentleman in question reads the blog and if he does id just like to say, i was only in the media class for the chicks!

I think the only comment I ever made about her was feeling I was missing out because of her dedication.

If thats me “joining in” the god help us.

I would ask you to back your slurs up but I know that would be pointless.

And that’s my last word on it.
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Knew you would say that…try this for starters…

28/12/2011 at 12:35 pm

I suspect you are the kind of person who has probably kept everything they have ever posted on here so I suggest you troll your own records.

You say “comment”, my PA and I say “snide comment” – its all about opinions but see when someone’s feelings are involved? Then it’s actually about how they feel not you.

Meant to ask you: I gave concrete information direct from 1 chairman and 3 directors of English clubs regarding RFC players in the transfer market but you ridiculed that because you are obviously so well-connected at Ibrox that they actively discuss transfer policy with you. Is that a slur?

corsica says:
29/01/2012 at 11:56 pm
It would seem that I am being blamed by some for starting a
stramash last night that has spilled over into today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That was me Corsica, although I wasn’t blaming you for the whole thing. I just felt you jumped on the reference to Celtic when I think the guy initially asked a reasonable question in a reasonable way. The guy then made some snide comment in retaliation and it all went down hill from there.

I wasn’t having a pop at you. I was just try to point out that maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to jump down peoples throats.
**********************
Understood, I just thought he was trolling and hadn’t bothered to read the posts. Although my basic point still stands – this is not about Celtic, it is about RFC and their (alleged) cheating.

I went to Hampden on Saturday (glory hunter) to support my local team. There were about 10000 Ayr fans there, so if even a quarter turned up on a regular basis their financial position would improve dramatically. Personally, I really enjoyed meeting up with more friends than I see even at Thistle games, and the whole sense of occasion. And still cheaper than going to an SFL game. I think that’s another major factor in the decline in attendance levels.

I’m not suggesting that we’ve got a surplus of sleeping giants, more like sleeping stroppy teenagers, but well capable of giving their big brothers a bloody nose once in a while …

I think that the events unfolding before our eyes are likely to lead to massive change. I’d like to think that –

1. we get consulted for our views (!!!)

2. the lower league clubs can play their part in that too (maybe some form of regionalisation to cut costs ?).

3. whatever happens, increased transparency is a must.

4. we see some sImplification. The fact that we have the SFA, SPL and SFL to administer about 20 full time clubs reeks of succulent lamb ….

Took me a while to catch up tonight having not visited since early afternoon- and to be honest it was hard going. Reading some 350 comments takes some doing in one sitting but I can only imagine the dedication it must take to actually post over 60 of these. I’m retired and could still not offer such commitment- well done.

Sorry if it’s been posted before but Hugh Keevins of all people has become the first of the MSM to actually state that Rangers, if they are found guilty of gaining an unfair advantage over their competitors, must not get off lightly. I’m somewhat surprised his article was approved but trust that we see more of this. Some sections of the media seem determined to move straight from denial to considering the implications for Scottish Football with the ” you know what we have to do- you know it make sense” end game.

It is based on an article from 18 months ago called “Can IPTV Save Celtic (and the SPL)?” The key assumption was that Celtic and Rangers would have their own TV channels and show ALL their games on a PPV basis (but shows the monthly subs equivalent.) There would be no Sky contract but Celtic and Rangers would do their own deal with their opposition.

In the attached I have removed Rangers from the scene but not made any substitution of say Hearts that might bring in say half of what Celtic would and maybe Dundee Utd and Aberdeen a third and the “smaller” clubs bringing in a lesser share if only their away games were shown.

Too late at night to get it right but folk will get the drift. Production costs are a shot in the dark but I am talking budget production and the SPL being responsible for contracting it.

My point is that we should not get locked into thinking Sky is the only game in town, and we might need to become a bit more innovative to find ways of bringing as many games as possible to supporters who might not travel from say Killie to Inverness, but will pay to watch their club from the comfort of their home (or on their mobile), especially if their club is getting a direct cut of the proceeds.

The risk is reduced gate revenue but a more accurate model should not be beyond the wit of the SPL to come up with.

My current thinking is that the only way any of this will work is by another club being bought and changing it’s name to Rangers Utd or whatever. St Mirren are an ideal target for that just now, as I have posted before.

It would take away all of the issues with regard licences, “Rangers” being in the SPL, TV contracts, a squad and pretty much everything else as far as I can see. I posted about it before so I won’t bore people by going over it again. It just seems like the simplest solution.

To any St Mirren fans reading, apologies for using your club as an example, it’s just that the owners seem keen to sell, and not at too high a price.

What you aver re the owners may be correct but I can assure you that the reaction of the St Mirren supporters, when they got wind of such a prospect, would be most emphatic. Paisley has always been a contrary place to it’s larger neighbour and the idea of an Establishment club buying them out would be met with much righteous fury!!

=========================================

I apologise in advance for saying this, but who do you think actually cares what the contrary people of Paisley actually think. Certainly not Craig Whyte.

The plan would be to get a high proportion of Current Rangers season ticket holders to hget behind the “new” team. The number of St Mirren supporters who stuck with the club would be largely irrelevant.

Just catching up on the comments here, but I was disappointed by the pile-on performed on that Rangers Come In Peace guy. The almost immediate descent into insults was shameful, and I’d hope a couple of teh participants were able to reflect regretfully on this. One or two others I doubt have much capacity for such self reflection and will indeed disappear when challenged.

I enjoyed the link to Beating A Troll 101, and would encourage all to pay particular attention to point 4: Don’t Troll Them

… I’ve seen plenty of times when people will “win” against a troll and as soon as the troll is done, the person who won will start attacking the troll. This will almost always lead to 1) the troll starting up again and 2) you looking like an ass. If you are able to beat a troll, take the victory in humble quietness.

learnt so much says:
29/01/2012 at 10:21 pm
_____________________________

I know im being pedantic here but i never actually got it wrong….I simply confirmed that a source had told me something, that it was 3rd hand information and if it turned out not to be wrong, then
not to shoot the messenger.

Now away and chase the people who said Rangers owe Rapid £1 million. They were wrong you know.
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Oh dear.

As far as I’m lead to believe; for a newco to be successfull it must have no connection what so
ever with the old entity…… so it can’t have Rangers in the name but if there is an attempt to preserve the current TV deal then that is a connection to the old club and I’m sure HMRC will be back knocking on the door looking for its cash.
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I’m not at all sure that this is the case.

Didn’t Airdrie go out of business and come back as Airdrie United?
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No Airdrie went out of business, bought Clydebank and changed there name to return as Airdrie United.
I don’t think that is a newco. Clydebank were already there they were just bought and had their name changed.
This is, I think, something completely different.
Remember Rangers newco is a made up business overnight, has never played a game, has no recognition either by the SFA or SPL.
To me it is an endless can of worms that will make lawyers extremely rich and suck whatever money that is left in the game out.
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There’s speculation, and that’s all it is, that Rangers may do the same as Airdrie.

Sorry if it’s been posted before but Hugh Keevins of all people has become the first of the MSM to
actually state that Rangers, if they are found guilty of gaining an unfair advantage over their competitors, must not get off lightly. I’m somewhat surprised his article was approved but trust that we see more of this. Some sections of the media seem determined to move straight from denial to considering the implications for Scottish Football with the ” you know what we have to do- you know it make sense” end game.
_______________________________

Now that it looks like Rangers are teetering on the brink the bold Hugh has changed tack.

He has consistently refused to acknowledge over the last couple of years that anything regarding Rangers tax problems could be anything but nonsense.

All references to the RTC blog by callers to Radio Clyde have been treated with condescension.

One memorable tirade was….

“I haven’t read the RTC blog, and have no intention of doing so. You and your pals on the internet can say what you like, but proper journalists have to be more careful.”

I’d imagine the fall out for any SPL board that is seen to give Rangers an easy ride will be pretty damn harsh! Cue boycotts aplenty, not just home fans – but would any Celtic fan here pay money to St Mirren or Motherwell if they were the club that “saved” Rangers? What about Aberdeen fans? Hearts fans? Can’t see it myself.

Any board that voted to “Save” Scottish Football by voting for a quick entry to the SPL for a new Rangers would be signing their own clubs death warrant.
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I will never attend a match at the ground of a club who vote to admit RFC2012 straight into the SPL.

D.King on 30/01/2012 at 5:15 pm said:
Rumour doing the rounds in the Scottish financial industry is that Mazars will be Rangers administrators.

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The fact you just said that makes sense of a sittuation I had with a Mazars auditor today, I made a throw away comment “better than being in rangers sittuation”, which i’v use lately instead of the “slapped in the face with a wet fish” to describe a worse sittuation. When I said that I got the strangest look as if I knew something that I shouldn’t, and the guys confidence dissapeared – weird!